Minor Prophets Quiz: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

1. What was Haggai's central message to the returned exiles?

1. 'Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?' — the people had prioritised their own homes over rebuilding God's temple. Haggai connected their agricultural poverty to this misplaced priority
2. Build the city walls before the temple — the community's safety was the essential foundation for any future religious activity
3. Observe the Sabbath faithfully — the post-exilic community had forgotten this foundational covenant sign during the Babylonian period
4. Repent of the intermarriage sins that had corrupted the community — Haggai worked alongside Ezra to address the same crisis

2. What did Haggai promise about the second temple and its future glory?

1. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the LORD Almighty. And in this place I will grant peace, declares the LORD Almighty'
2. The second temple would be destroyed as Shiloh had been — Haggai was preparing the people for further judgment
3. The second temple would be only temporary — a third and final temple would be built by the Messiah himself
4. The second temple's glory was conditional — it would only surpass Solomon's temple if the community maintained perfect covenant faithfulness

3. Who was Zechariah, and what is the structure of his book?

1. Zechariah was a contemporary of Ezekiel in Babylon — his visions parallel Ezekiel's chariot throne vision and must be interpreted alongside Ezekiel's temple vision
2. Zechariah was a layman from Bethlehem who received visions during the temple construction — his book consists of two visions and a narrative account of the temple's dedication
3. Zechariah was a priest and prophet who ministered alongside Haggai. His book has two main sections: chapters 1-8 (eight night visions plus oracles, set in the temple rebuilding period) and chapters 9-14 (apocalyptic oracles about the messianic age, often quoted in the NT passion narratives)
4. Zechariah was the last prophet before the exile — his book is a summary of prophetic tradition that bridges the pre-exilic and post-exilic periods

4. What does Zechariah 4:6 declare, and what is its context?

1. 'Ask me and I will make the nations your inheritance, and the ends of the earth your possession' — a messianic promise to Zerubbabel about his future kingdom
2. 'My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear' — God's reassurance after the people despaired at the small size of the second temple
3. 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty' — spoken to Zerubbabel as encouragement that the temple would be completed by divine enabling, not human strength
4. 'Who dares despise the day of small things? People will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel'

5. What famous messianic entry prophecy is found in Zechariah 9:9?

1. 'See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey' — quoted in Matthew 21:5 and John 12:15 at the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
2. 'Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered' — quoted by Jesus in Matthew 26:31 as predicting his disciples' abandonment of him at his arrest
3. 'The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name' — a vision of the eschatological consummation of all things
4. 'They will mourn for the one they have pierced, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son' — applied in Revelation 1:7 to the return of Christ

6. What does Zechariah 12:10 prophesy?

1. 'I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child'
2. 'On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea'
3. 'On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day — a day known only to the LORD'
4. 'Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle'

7. What is Malachi's principal complaint against the priests, and what does God say about worship without integrity?

1. 'You place defiled food on my altar... When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you?' God says he prefers the temple be shut than accept such worship
2. The priests had allowed Samaritans to serve in the temple — the mixed worship was the defilement that Malachi condemned
3. The priests had stopped offering any sacrifices — the temple had been completely abandoned by the post-exilic community
4. The priests had stopped teaching the Torah — their educational failure was the primary complaint in Malachi

8. What does Malachi say about tithing, and what does God promise?

1. 'A tenth of all you produce is the LORD's; do not withhold it or you will face the curse of Deuteronomy 28'
2. 'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it'
3. 'Bring your tithe to Jerusalem and offer it publicly at the gate — secret giving is not acceptable under the old covenant economy'
4. 'The tithe belongs to the Levites — giving to the poor directly is an acceptable substitute when the Levites have sufficient income'

9. What does Malachi 3:1 predict, and how is it applied in the New Testament?

1. 'I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents'
2. 'See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come, says the LORD Almighty'
3. 'Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire'
4. Both options 1 and 3 are quoted in the New Testament in relation to John the Baptist

10. Why is Malachi theologically significant as the last book of the OT canon (in the Protestant arrangement)?

1. Malachi ends with the promise of Elijah coming before the Day of the LORD and turning hearts — it points forward to something not yet fulfilled, creating a canonical expectation that Matthew picks up immediately with John the Baptist and Jesus. The OT ends with a forward-pointing promise, not a full stop
2. Malachi ends with the return of the Davidic king — the closing promise is the immediate and complete restoration of the Davidic dynasty before the NT era begins
3. Malachi is the most comprehensive summary of the law — its closing chapters contain a digest of all the major OT covenants
4. Malachi is the most upbeat conclusion — it ends with pure praise and no hint of the struggle that followed in the intertestamental period